Mid Sweden University

Perseverative negative thinking is a significant cognitive process strongly associated with psychological distress and mental disorders. In light of Afghanistan’s ongoing social and economic challenges, a reliable self-report measure is essential for accurate clinical assessment among Afghan populations. The present study aimed to translate and validate the Dari/Farsi version of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ) in a sample of Afghan students. The statistical population of this study consisted of 254 undergraduate students at Herat University, Afghanistan, who were enrolled in the 2024-25 academic year. In this study, students were selected using convenience sampling and completed an online survey (Qualtrics). To calculate test-retest reliability, 40 individuals were also selected and completed the PTQ within two weeks. In this study, the PTQ and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale- 21 Items (DASS-21) were administered. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results showed that the three-factor model and the second-order three-factor model of PTQ had the same and a good fit ( χ 2 /df = 2.35, CFI = .94, RMSEA = .07). Furthermore, PTQ showed a moderate positive association with depression, anxiety, and stress ( r (254) = .66, .56, .60, p < .05), a strong test-retest reliability, ( r (40) = .73, p < .05), and excellent internal consistency ( α = .92). Given its strong psychometric properties, the Dari/Farsi version of the PTQ can be considered a reliable tool for both research purposes and clinical assessment. Its use is highly recommended for psychologists and mental health practitioners in diagnostic contexts as well as in investigative and applied studies.

• Despite the high prevalence of mental disorders, refugees underutilize mental health services. • Cultural adaptation of interventions is suggested as a way to narrow this treatment gap. • The Raha Arabic program was efficient in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and PTSD. • The Raha Arabic program was also efficient in improving resilience and well-being. • Treatment effects were sustained at the 6-month follow-up. Despite an elevated risk for developing mental health problems, evidence-based treatment options for this population remain scarce. The current study aimed to examine the efficacy of a culturally adapted internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) program for youth and young adults with mild to moderate mental health problems. Raha is a culturally adapted, guided, and tailored iCBT program for mild to moderate mental health problems. One hundred twenty-five Arabic-speaking refugee youth and young adults aged 15–29 years were randomly allocated to either a 10-week CA-iCBT condition or a wait-list control condition. The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) served as the primary outcome measure and was assessed at pre-treatment, 4-week follow-up, post-treatment, and at 6-months post-treatment. Treatment effects were evaluated using a latent growth model. In the intention-to-treat analysis, anxiety and depressive symptoms on the HSCL-25 were significantly reduced in the treatment group compared with the wait-list control group, with a between-group effect size at post-treatment of Cohen’s d = 1.43 [0.97,1.89]. Treatment effects were sustained at the 6-month follow-up. Significant moderate-to-large effects were also observed across most secondary outcome measures. The findings of this study indicate that CA-iCBT is effective in reducing symptoms of common mental health problems in a population that generally underutilizes traditional mental health services.

This paper introduces a tool for classifying software issue reports using machine learning techniques. The tool implements traditional machine learning techniques, AutoML, and more advanced large-language models to support automated categorization of issue reports. The tool has been evaluated on datasets from multiple open-source and closed-source software projects. The tool has also been evaluated in real industrial settings. The evaluation results and the feedback from practitioners indicate that the tool has the potential to assist practitioners in the early classification of issue reports. • A tool that implements leading ML techniques for issue report classification. • Provides evaluation results from several open-source and closed-source projects. • Provides results and insights from real-industrial validations. • A reusable package.

Achieving precise mechanical control in electrospun fibrous scaffolds remains a critical challenge for tissue engineering, where scaffold stiffness, strength, and extensibility must be tailored to diverse biological environments. Here, we establish a systematic framework for tuning the mechanical behavior of electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) fibers by integrating molecular-weight blending, polymer concentration control, fiber orientation, and environmental exposure within a single study. High-molecular-weight PCL (H-PCL) and blends with low-molecular-weight PCL (L-PCL) were electrospun to produce fibers with controlled diameters, morphologies, and orientations. Fiber alignment emerged as the dominant structural factor governing mechanical performance: oriented fibers exhibited substantially higher stiffness (~ 90–140 MPa) and tensile strength (up to ~ 100 MPa), while randomly deposited fibers showed markedly greater extensibility (up to ~ 1000%). Polymer concentration and resulting fiber diameter further modulated stiffness, with optimal mechanical performance observed at intermediate concentrations (~ 10–12% w/v). Molecular-weight blending provided an additional route to tailor fiber morphology and modulus, with oriented fibers reaching peak stiffness at ~ 50–60% H-PCL. Environmental exposure studies revealed that acidic treatments (formic and acetic acid solutions) reduce stiffness in a concentration- and temperature-dependent manner, whereas physiological soaking in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, 37 °C) largely preserves scaffold integrity. Collectively, the electrospun scaffolds developed here span a broad mechanical window (~ 5–140 MPa). When positioned against literature-reported electrospun PCL scaffolds for cardiac, bone, and muscle tissue engineering, this range bridges multiple application-relevant stiffness regimes. These results provide a unified structure–property framework for designing mechanically tunable PCL fibrous scaffolds across diverse biomedical applications.

ABSTRACT Predicting the modulus of short fiber‐reinforced composites is complicated by simultaneous variations in fiber length, orientation, and volume fraction during processing. This work refines the classical modified rule of mixtures (MROM) by introducing two concentration‐dependent weighting functions, and , which capture the evolution of effective fiber length, fiber‐fiber interactions, fiber orientation, and loading‐angle effects. A microstructural efficiency coefficient is further incorporated to describe reinforcement degradation from dilute to crowded fiber conditions. The model was validated using ethylene‐vinyl acetate/short carbon fiber composites with fiber volume fractions of 1.37%–16.80%. Young's modulus measured at loading angles of 0°, 45°, and 90° showed excellent agreement with predictions, with the refined formulation outperforming the classical MROM, particularly at higher loading angles. Overall, the refined framework provides a compact and physically grounded framework for accurately predicting stiffness and supports the design and optimization of short fiber‐reinforced polymer systems.

Interdisciplinary research approaches are critical to understanding the profound shifts in glacial and periglacial environments due to climate change. However, conducting fieldwork in these geographies often involves navigating the complexities of situated narratives, traditionally dominated by masculinist and geoscience-centered approaches. In this commentary, using feminist glaciology as a lens for understanding the socio-environmental dynamics within the cryosphere, we reflect on the significance of interdisciplinary and cross-boundary research. Drawing from three different yet interconnected fieldwork experiences—nature-based tourism research in Patagonia, geophysical surveys in High Mountain Asia, and engaging with the green transition and indigenous perspectives in the European Arctic—we explore the challenges and solutions of doing research in these extreme environments while reflecting on positionality, knowledge production, and the need for diverse perspectives in the climate crisis.

Recent research has suggested that fact-checkers understand their own missions in very different ways, crucially because they operate in a wide variety of media and political environments. Considering this argument, this article examines and compares how fact-checkers perceive their role in France, Sweden and the United States, three established western democracies that differ in their media and political systems. Theoretically, the study is guided by research on journalistic cultures. Methodologically, it employs semi-structured interviews with fact-checkers selected from the three countries. The findings reveal that French fact-checkers have a more nuanced view of their role, including debunking online falsehoods, correcting politicians’ lies and explaining complex domestic and foreign issues to the public. The priority for the Swedish fact-checkers is to provide facts and explanations to the public about salient domestic issues. In contrast, for US fact-checkers, the priority is to hold political actors accountable for their claims. While these differences in perceptions align with the journalistic cultures of the countries under study, they challenge the assumed monolithic epistemology of fact-checking and reveal the increasingly blurred boundaries between fact-checking and news journalism.